Oh hey. I missed you guys last week! I took a little blog hiatus because I had a really busy week at work with our third and final health fair on Thursday. I also had a few blog projects due at the beginning of the week, so any free time I had was spent writing those. You can keep your eyes out for those posts next week!

Today I want to check in with a fitness update since it’s been awhile since my last one! As far as strength training goes, I’ve progressed to the 4th level of the Modern Woman’s Guide to Strength Training program that I’ve done for the better part of this year. I’m also mixing in some more metabolic resistance workouts from Neghar Fonooni’s Fall Freedom Challenge, and through those I have discovered a new love for kettlebells. They’ve helped me switch up my workouts to add more variety. I really want to get a heavy one for at home strength workouts this winter since the heaviest dumbbells I own are only 15 pounds, and those are feeling light these days!

That’s about all that’s new to report on the fitness front except for that I tweaked my knee slightly last week. I think it happened on the last rep of the last set of dumbbell front squats I was doing on Monday afternoon. I’ve had some slight pain in my left knee when going down stairs, and it hurt at first to extend/bend my knee.  I took Wednesday through Saturday completely off from the gym, and I’ve been diligent about Alieve, elevation, and ice, and it already feels better. I went back to the gym yesterday and this morning, but I’m still being careful and airing on the side of caution when it comes to squats and lunges. I do not want to make a minor tweak any worse – it’s just not worth it to have a longer term injury! Other than this little setback, things are pretty status quo.

Here’s the rundown for those of you who like to look at what my weekly workout plans look like:

Workouts: Sunday 10/5 – Saturday 10/11

• Sunday: Strength workout
• Monday: 3 mile run
• Tuesday: Taught a partner themed class, then stayed to lift on my own
• Wednesday: Emily’s spin class
• Thursday: Taught and did a class with body bars, gliding discs, and light weights
• Friday: Off
• Saturday: Off

Workouts: Sunday 10/12 – Saturday 10/18

• Sunday: Harvard stadium run
• Monday: Upper body strength workout
• Tuesday: Taught and did lower body strength in my 6am class
• Wednesday: 3 mile run
• Thursday: Taught and did two “up the ladder/down the ladder” pyramid sets in my 6am class.
• Friday: 3 mile run
• Saturday: Off

Workouts: Sunday 10/19 – Saturday 10/25

• Sunday: Oak Square 5k
• Monday: Off
• Tuesday: Taught my class, then stayed for a strength workout afterward
• Wednesday: Off
• Thursday: Taught and did this Lift Weights Faster circuit from Jen Sinkler in class, then finished with my favorite stability ball core circuit (3 rounds of ball passes, lunge and twists, roll outs, pikes, standing side crunches, stir the pot elbow planks – 10 reps each).
• Friday: 3 mile run
• Saturday: Strength workout

Workouts: Sunday 10/26 – Saturday 11/1

• Sunday: Emily’s 20/20/20 class
• Monday: Fall Freedom Challenge workout: 15 minutes of alternating between 5 deadlifts and 5 overhead presses, followed by a 5 minute kettlebell quickie. Try doing 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off of a kettlebell clean, squat, and swing for 5 minutes total. Love!
• Tuesday: Taught and did a strength workout at 6am. Since I only taught the cardio finisher part of class, I stayed to do this treadmill interval workout on my own
• Wednesday: Off
• Thursday: Taught this Halloween themed class at 6am, then went to a Glo-Cycle class at The Handle Bar in Fenway. Slesh joined for the fun! Class was glow in the dark themed, we got to write on each other with glow in the dark crayons, and there was mingling afterward.
• Friday: Off
• Saturday: Strength workout

Workouts: Sunday 11/2 – Saturday 11/8

• Sunday: Emily’s 20/20/20 class
• Monday: A 30 minute hotel workout. This is a new favorite for when I’m pressed on time: 5 reps each of alternating overhead dumbbell presses, dumbbell goblet squats, and alternating single arm dumbbell rows – as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes. Then end with this unilateral cardio finisher: skater jumps each leg + dumbbell windmills each side. 15 seconds on, 5 seconds off for each move, 3x through.
• Tuesday: This treadmill interval workout in the hotel
• Wednesday: Evening yoga/stretch in my hotel room
• Thursday: 5k run at the Minnesota health fair
• Friday: Off (traveling home from Minnesota)
• Saturday: 3 mile walk around the Charles with Tim

Workouts: Sunday 11/9 – Saturday 11/15

• Sunday: Strength workout
• Monday: 1 mile treadmill run + my decreasing row and medicine ball core workout
• Tuesday: Taught my on fire workout in class, then stayed to do a metabolic resistance circuit on my own. This one is another recent go to: 10 reps each of kettlebell goblet squats, kettlebell suitcase deadlifts, barbell step ups, barbell push presses, and bodyweight jump squats – as many rounds as possible in 25 minutes.
• Wednesday: Emily’s cycle and core class
• Thursday: Taught and did an upper body Tabata class
• Friday: Off
• Saturday: Total body strength + kettlebell cardio finisher

Workouts: Sunday 11/16 – Saturday 11/22

• Sunday: Off
• Monday: Total body strength workout + kettlebell swing Tabata finisher
• Tuesday: Taught and did a lower body Tabata class
• Wednesday: Off (resting tweaked knee)
• Thursday: Off (resting tweaked knee). Even though I didn’t workout, I was on my feet all day for the health fair. What a difference that makes!
• Friday: Off (resting tweaked knee)
• Saturday: Hike up Prospect Hill with gym friends, plus a couple of upper body Tabata sets at the top!

–Let’s chat–
What’s new on the fitness front for you guys lately? What goals are you working on? Would love to hear!

I am working on putting together a little holiday challenge for the blog to help you guys stay active and moving during the upcoming holiday hustle. Details will be announced this week. Stay tuned!